Green River council thanks Kent Johnson

By JULIE ZWAHLEN staff writer

At the final city council meeting for 2013 the council bid farewell to Councilman Kent Johnson. He served for eight years. He was elected November 2005 and began his term of service January 2006. During this time he was key to bring about many changes that have made Green River a much better place to live. He helped develop Melon Days. He brought Julie Zwahlen on board as Melon Days Coordinator and as one of his final contributions he extended Melon Days a day beginning next year. Zwahlen said, “He was very supportive and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. He is going to continue to help out on the Melon Days Committee. He was over the Parks Department and brought about many improvements some of which included upgrading the electrical around the park, the fences around the ball field and the tennis court. One project he over saw was the street widening on Solomon by the ball field which used to bottleneck horribly.
“He helped improve the curb and gutter in Green River and one of the largest drainage problems was resolved under his direction.
“Johnson was the first to balance the solid waste budget. He helped develop the shooting sports park and the trap shooting. He has been a very good council member, bringing diversity to the table and really caring about Green River. He was steady, very involved and made Green River a better place to live,” said Zwahlen.
Mayor Pat Brady commented, “I have really enjoyed serving with him over the last six years. He has really good ideas and great things came to pass because of him. We would like to thank Kent for his years of service.”
The grant from the State Aeronautical Department of Transportation for the airport pavement preservation was approved. The contract with Ken Young of Utah Community Planners that was discussed in last month’s meeting was approved.
The Tesla charging station was approved to be put in at the JWP Museum since the changes to the contract were made that were discussed at the meeting last month.
A presentation on more efficient water meters was presented to the council for consideration. This system would not involve a big capital investment from the city. They charge a fraction of a penny per gallon.
Capital Facilities priority list was discussed. There are deficiencies and they recommend improvements be made to eliminate deficiencies such as leaks, replace pipe that is too small, bottleneck areas and there may be some failures. There are some sewer pipes that are deteriorating. There needs to be paving done, curb and gutter.
On Main Street, there is UDOT money that can be applied for to help improve the curb and gutter on Main Street. Paving Elgin Avenue was discussed along with some drainage issues.
On Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. in Castle Dale at the monthly commissioners meeting there was a discussion on Emery County tippage fee for the Emery County Landfill.
This could mean a price increase for residents of Green River. The county wants to charge $10 per ton on loads over 1,000 pounds which comes out to be approximately $1.07 more per can you could be paying and commercial will be more than double or triple that per small dumpster. The land fill will let people dump a pickup truck load for free up to 1,000 pounds.
Residents of Green River need to voice to the commissioners the need for garbage from the Green River transfer station to remain free. Currently City Sanitation hauls over everything from the transfer station. The transfer station is where residents can take their pickup truck load. Because of the distance involved no one is going to take their pickup truck load from Green River over to the other end of the county to dump in the landfill for free, so Green Rivers loads from the transfer station need to remain free as a service to Green River residents.
The commissioners tabled the matter of the tippage fee at the public hearing until further research can be completed that will be fair and equitable to all Emery County residents.